NHL ROUNDUP
Monday’s games
Islanders 4, Devils 1: Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson each had a goal with an assist as the visiting New York Islanders clinched a playoff berth with a 4-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Monday in Newark, N.J.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle MacLean also scored while Pierre Engvall and Anders Lee each added two assists as New York (38-27-16, 92 points) secured third place in the Metropolitan Division and improved to 7-0-1 this month. The Islanders recorded just 18 shots on goal but made the most of their chances to gain a postseason berth for the fifth time in six seasons.
Timo Meier scored his team-best 28th goal for the Devils (38-39-5, 81 points), who ended a disappointing season with their seventh loss in nine games (2-6-1).
New York recorded just five shots on goal in the first period but made two of them count. The Islanders’ first official shot came with 7:38 remaining in the opening frame when Pageau converted off a two-on-one with Engvall.
Just 4 1/2 minutes later, the Islanders made it 2-0. Positioned perfectly in front of the Devils’ net, Palmieri tipped in Mike Reilly’s shot, via Nelson, from the point for New York’s first power-play tally in five games.
New Jersey cut the deficit in half 3:25 into the second period. The Devils’ Jesper Bratt sent a shot on net, but New York netminder Semyon Varlamov (23 saves) couldn’t completely glove it, and Meier was there to convert.
The Islanders regained the two-goal advantage at 11:48 of the middle frame. Coming off a two-goal game against the New York Rangers on Saturday, Nelson found the puck amid some slot traffic and beat New Jersey’s Jake Allen (14 saves) for his 33rd goal.
New York padded the advantage 6:16 into the third when Lee kept control of the puck with one hand on his stick through zone traffic. He then sent it over to Livingston, N.J., native MacLean, who worked to push the puck by Allen.
Capitals 2, Bruins 0: John Carlson and Nic Dowd scored and Charlie Lindgren recorded a 16-save shutout as the Washington Capitals beat the visiting Boston Bruins 2-0 on Monday to remain in control of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
The game-winning goal, at 12:00 in the first period, was Carlson’s 10th of the season and fifth in the past 13 games. Carlson has recorded points in three straight contests.
Dowd added a late empty-netter for Washington (39-31-11, 89 points), which is tied on points with the Detroit Red Wings, one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and two points up on the Flyers for the second Eastern Conference wild card. The Capitals conclude the regular season on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Lindgren made eight stops in the third period en route to his sixth shutout of the season.
Jeremy Swayman made 23 saves while David
Pastrnak had a team-high five shots for Boston (47-19-15, 109 points), which could have clinched first place in the Atlantic Division with two points. The Bruins, who are one point ahead of the Florida Panthers, finish on Tuesday at home against the Ottawa Senators.
Boston didn’t record a shot on goal until the 11:36 mark, and Washington made it a 1-0 game only 24 seconds later when Carlson let go a one-timer from the blue line that slid through the slot and over Swayman’s shoulder.
It remained a one-goal game deep into the third period. Lindgren made a key stop six minutes into the third, denying Jakub Lauko, who charged down the slot on a four-man rush.
Swayman followed suit just after the halfway mark of the third, following a two-on-one pass from Aliaksei Protas to Tom Wilson across his crease to stop a one-timer. About two minutes later, Boston’s Morgan Geekie made a steal and fed Pastrnak for an open chance from the circle that Lindgren stopped.
The Bruins recorded just four shots in each of the first two periods.
Neither side had a power play until Bruins defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk was called for tripping at 6:12 of the third, but the hosts managed just one shot over the following two minutes.
Washington’s empty-net goal came as Dowd stole the puck from Boston captain Brad Marchand between the circles and tucked the puck home with 11.7 seconds left.
Washington forward Beck Malenstyn did not return for the third period after sustaining an upper-body injury on a hit from Boston’s Trent Frederic.
Penguins 4, Predators 2: Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson each had a goal and an assist as the Pittsburgh Penguins kept their playoff hopes alive by beating the visiting Nashville Predators 4-2 on Monday.
Reilly Smith and Emil Bemstrom added goals, and Marcus Pettersson had two assists for the Penguins (38-31-12, 88 points), who are 8-1-3 in their past 12 games. They won despite having two goals nullified because of goaltender interference.
Pittsburgh goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, making his 12th straight start, made 28 saves.
Gustav Nyquist and Filip Forsberg scored goals, and Ryan McDonagh had two assists for the Predators (47-30-5, 99 points), who have finished the regular season and now await the playoffs.
What appeared to be a power-play goal by Pittsburgh’s Michael Bunting at 6:23 of the first was disallowed after Nashville successfully challenged that Bunting was guilty of goaltender interference.
On the same Penguins power play, Crosby made it 1-0. From behind the net, he dished to Bunting in the left circle, then dove at the opposite post and banged in a rebound of Bunting’s shot at 7:02.
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